


Scarlet

by sippingandshipping



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Blood and Injury, Fake Chop, Fluffy Ending, Healing, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 14:01:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14956004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sippingandshipping/pseuds/sippingandshipping
Summary: It had been a perfect heist. Went off without a hitch. That should have been Aleks’ first clue. The reminder that there’s no such thing as easy in their line of work.He heard it before he saw it; the deafening crack as the lone officer fired his pistol. By the time he’d turned, it was already far too late.





	Scarlet

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written as a request from my [Tumblr!](https://loveyboyslovin.tumblr.com)
> 
> They asked for some NovaHD with injury and recovery. Tbh I sort of just skipped to the end of the healing process, but I still think it turned out pretty well!

_It never should have happened._

_You should have stopped it._

**_It’s your fault._ **

The thoughts keep coming like a torrent, one after the other, filling Aleks’ head until he feels like he’s drowning in his own mind. When he manages to push one away, another rushes forward to take its place.

How did this happen?

It had been a perfect heist. Went off without a hitch. That should have been Aleks’ first clue. The reminder that there’s no such thing as easy in their line of work.

He heard it before he saw it; the deafening crack as the lone officer fired his pistol. By the time he’d turned, it was already far too late.

The images won’t leave his mind, no matter how much he wishes they would. He can’t _not_ see the bullet tear its way through James’ abdomen like it was passing through air, can’t forget the choked-off wheeze James made as he collapsed.

Everything after that seemed like a blur.

He heard screaming, raw and anguished, but it wasn’t until his lungs were aching with their need for air that he realised it was coming from his own mouth.

The officer was down before he could fire another shot, a bullet to the face courtesy of Brett’s unwavering aim, but there was no joy left to feel from the retribution.

Things went dark.

When he came back to himself, Aleks was hovering over James’ body, almost thrown to the side as Asher swerved their getaway van around a tight corner.

Brett was holding a cloth to James’ stomach, but the red was spreading like a stain, a virus, utterly unstoppable.

“Stay with us, James!” Brett cursed, snatching another cloth from Trevor’s pale, trembling fingers and pressing it to the wound, “Don’t you dare fucking die on us, you piece of shit.”

James was conscious, but barely, his eyes wet and unfocused as he met Aleks’ gaze.

Then he choked on his own blood.

The world was scarlet, and Aleks was lost to it.

 

* * *

 

The lights are a familiar level of dim when Aleks wakes up, and he can’t help but feel a small twinge of relief at that. They must have made it back to the warehouse, at least. 

Then he feels the cold fingers against his own and _remembers_.

He bolts up, the sharp gasp echoing off the walls as his eyes whirl around to take in the situation.

James is laying in a cot beside him, thick bandages wrapped around his middle. These ones aren’t stained with blood, though, so that’s got to be good, right? He has a needle stuck into the crook of each elbow, thin tubes connected to bags hanging near the end of the bed, one filled with blood and the other a clear liquid which looks to be morphine. 

He’s pale, so fucking pale that the contrast between his skin and the bandages is nowhere near what it should be. And he’s cold, where his fingers lay limp in Aleks’ grasp.

Brett sighs, and Aleks flinches before he’s able to properly recognise the sound.

The man looks haggard, deep circles under his eyes as his weary gaze meets Aleks’, and his voice comes out as a whisper, which is good because Aleks probably couldn’t handle anything louder right now.

“He’s gonna be ok,” Brett murmurs, eyes sweeping over James’ comatose form, and Aleks can’t help but let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in, “Anna assured me herself.” 

“It was close, though,” Brett continues, and he buries the heels of his palms in his eye sockets as if he could rub away the memories like Aleks desperately wants to do, “ _fuck_ , it was so fucking close. A few more minutes and we would’ve lost him.”

Aleks just lets his eyes close as the truth washes over him. James is here. He’s going to live. _He’s not alone_.

“We were worried about you, too, asshole,” Brett mutters, crossing his arms and trying his best to not grimace as Aleks looks to him again, “You passed the fuck out on us and you’re only waking up now, like, _hours_ later. You _dick_.”

“Sor-,” Aleks croaks, needing to clear his throat before he can try again, “Sorry. He just looked…”

“Yeah,” Brett supplies, and it somehow sounds weaker than anything he’s ever said before. “Yeah, I know.”

“No heists for a long, _long_ fucking time,” Brett says, frowning, and Aleks can’t do anything but nod.

_They’re alive_.

That’s enough.

 

* * *

 

Aleks trails kisses down James’ chest, savouring every inch of the man who is warm and soft and so vibrantly alive beneath him, and James groans from above his head.

“Stop teasing me, you asshole,” he complains, fingers fisting in Aleks’ scruffy hair, “I’m an injured man and I don’t deserve to be tortured like this.”

Aleks can’t help but chuckle at him, meeting those dark eyes that he doesn’t think he’ll ever not love seeing, and he tuts him gently, trying his best to hide his smirk, “Calm down, you big baby, it was just a gunshot wound.” 

James sputters at him, and it fills Aleks with so much joy that he thinks he might explode from it all. James just rolls his eyes and huffs, settles for an exasperated, “ _bitch_ ”, and Aleks laughs out loud.

When his lips find their way to James’ belly, the skin around the old wound is pink and soft, recently healed, and he grins up at the man he loves more than life itself, “Still sensitive, though. Right?”

“Yea-” James starts, but he cuts off with a grunt as Aleks’ lips make contact with the tender skin, and the fingers in Aleks’ hair automatically grip tighter, “What the _fuck_ , Aleksandr!”

“A reminder,” Aleks replies, moving up until he can take James’ face between his hands and look straight at him, “That you are _never_ going to do that to me again.”

“You know that there’s just as much chance for you to get shot as there is for me, right?” James scowls, but he obviously realises it’s a fight he won’t win, so he just grumbles instead, “Yeah yeah, I love you too.”

“I promise I won’t get shot,” Aleks smirks, and then he kisses James like he never wants to let him go again.

There’s warmth under his fingertips, lips against his own, he breathes in James, all of him, and it’s somehow perfect after all this time.

_They’re still alive_.

And it’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and say hi on [Tumblr!](https://loveyboyslovin.tumblr.com) I'll be doing asks, prompts and requests through this account! :D


End file.
